


brainstorm redux

by halestrom



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25454662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halestrom/pseuds/halestrom
Summary: When he woke up that morning, the last thing he expected to find was himself on another planet. In another galaxy. Through a wormhole. Holy shit.
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Comments: 15
Kudos: 142





	brainstorm redux

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly born out of me rewatching Midway and seeing McKay very confidently reload his P90, also just the idea of Sheppard waiting for him to be ready to go on a strike mission. Enjoy! :)
> 
> As always, this is unbeta'd and so all mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Bill considered himself a man of science, of logic and understanding. He had built his career out of helping others understand science and in some cases even grow to love it as much as he did. He had thousands of fans around the world, millions if he was feeling his ego that day, and had received hundreds upon hundreds of letters detailing how he had helped them. He was the Science Guy, he had dedicated his life to science and to expounding the knowledge of others. To making more people love science, to simplifying the complicated concepts to entice people. He was the crossroads demon of science and all he asked for was an open mind. Hell, he had even dealt with some sort of science fiction nonsense with that whole Tunney fiasco a few years ago. And hadn’t that been a great day, he hadn’t died, he was sort of a hero, and he found out he was pretty good under pressure. 

And yet, standing in front of what they told him was a Stargate, a portal to other _planets_ , he felt every single thought he ever had, every iota of knowledge stored in his brain and every atom that made up who he was, fade away as his mind tried to make sense of what he was seeing. It was science fiction, it wasn’t reality, it changed science in ways he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. He found it hard to believe, but it was also right in front of his eyes.

He blinked, his mouth dropping open as the ring began to spin, a disembodied voice locking out the chevrons, whatever those were, one at a time before a loud whoosh and the wormhole exploded from the middle, power and danger in one fell swoop, before it retracted back onto it self, looking like a puddle of water. His mind had blanked for…well for while if he was honest with himself. And when he did find himself functioning on a higher plane again, it was to Neil gasping next to him, eyes wide and in the middle of the happiest panic attack Bill had ever been privy too. 

A doctor in fatigues was on hand to help with the panic attack and the wormhole (oh my god a _wormhole_ ) shut down and the group was ushered into a cafeteria with coffee and food. It was the first time Bill really looked around and saw the people he was standing with. It was a list of the who’s who of science, people he knew, people he recognized, and a lot he didn’t but he was sure he had heard of them. He grabbed a cup of coffee and managed to find a table, Neil muttering to himself as he sat down next to him. Bill hid a grimace when Tunney joined them, eyes wide with excitement, and he was glad that the other man seemed too overcome with excitement to do anything other than make noises. 

The rest of the room slowly sat down and an older man in a uniform at the front of the room cleared his throat. He was graying, but Bill thought he looked nice even with the uniform and the severe look on his face. He was standing next to a good looking man who wouldn’t look out of place on a university campus, with an even better looking black man next to him with an odd gold tattoo on his forehead. On the other side was a gorgeous blonde woman in a similar uniform to the first mans. Honestly, Bill thought they were all too good looking to be military.

“Welcome everyone, I’m Lieutenant General O’Neill and I am in charge of the Department of Homeworld Security. Yes folks, you beard that right, Home _world_. To my right is Major General Samantha Carter, she also has a doctorate in Astrophysics. She is in charge of the SGC, that is Stargate Command, which is this complex. On my left is Dr. Daniel Jackson, a member of the SGC since the inception and the man who helped make the gate work, and on his left is Teal’c of Chulak, he’s from a different planet, one of the leaders of the Free Jaffa Nations and also a member of the SGC.”

Bill stared at the last man, eyes wide. Alien his mind supplied him, at the same time it told him it wasn’t possible, the man looked human not _Alien_. He wasn’t the only person who was having a hard time as the room broke out in whispers. The General had clearly anticipated this as he didn’t try and talk for a couple of minutes before clearing his throat loudly to get their attention. 

“The SGC has been around since 1997, and the current President and International Oversight Advisory, or IOA, members, and their subsequent countries have decided that we should begin declassification and have decided that it would be best to have some of the well-known faces of the sciences help usher the program into public, so we don’t scare a lot of people. Most of our scientists, like Dr. Jackson and Dr. Carter, have been working on classified bases for the majority of their career and maybe aren’t the most used to dealing with the public.”

Bill was sure he heard Carter snort and saw her mutter something that made Dr. Jackson smile even as he tried to hide it. 

“Dr. Jackson, Dr. Carter and Teal’c are going to give you a brief over view of the SGC and how we came to be, and I do mean brief,” O’Neill said with a pointed look towards Daniel who smiled unapologetically and stepped forward.

“Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Jackson as Jack told you, and my degree is in archeology and I am going to tell you that Aliens built the pyramids and make you believe it.”

At this point, Bill was sure he would believe anything, but he settled in and listened. 

—

It was…some time later when they showed Bill and the rest of the group to their rooms on the base. His mind felt muddled filled with stories of other planets and Egyptian gods with parasites in them that were actually aliens. And if what Dr. Jackson had told him, that was just the first mission. His three roommates seemed to feel the same as him as they stumbled around the cramped quarters (O’Neill had smiled at them and shrugged. ‘Sorry folks, we’re used to Marines here, they don’t have opinions on sleeping arrangements.’) and collapsed into their beds most of them still dressed. Bill’s dreams were filled with thoughts of wormholes and beautiful Alien planets with blue grass and purple skies, where the cities were in the sky and everyone had a space ship, and the world was shaking and people were yelling.

Bill woke up with a shout, looking into the face of a harried looking soldier holding a large gun. Bill recoiled from the sight of the weapon. He hated guns.

“Sir, I need you to grab your shoes and follow everyone now,” the solider was saying, also to the other three people in the room who were in varying degrees of alertness.

“What? Why?” he found himself asking even as he grabbed his shoes and pulled them on, glad he hadn’t undressed. 

“Just follow them sir,” the man said ushering the four of them out into a bustling hallway and closing the door behind him, marking it with a large green checkmark and locking it. 

Bill didn’t really have a choice, swept along the corridor by various people in fatigues with guns. He followed the tide until he was in the gate room again, standing in a crowd that seemed to be growing larger, as the gate spun round and around, each chevron locking. Despite the stress in the air, Bill was mesmerized as the wormhole wooshed into existence, the General’s voice suddenly coming over the loud speaker. 

“Atlantis this is the SGC, we are under attack, our Alpha and Beta sites are comprised, we need to evacuate, sending the IDC now.”

“Atlantis?” Bill heard someone ask next to him and he turned to see Neil next to him. 

He shrugged his shoulders, trying to stay near his friend even as he was jostled around as more people poured into the room. He could finally hear gunshots in the distance, yelling and the nerves in the room ratcheted up.

“SGC, this is Atlantis, you have a go, the shield is down.”

“Move people!” the General said. “You’re getting an offworld trip, go through the wormhole. It’s safe on the other side I promise.”

Bill wanted to ask questions, wanted to deny, but the gunshot were even closer and he could hear yells now, voices saying drop the weapons and the crowd as one surged through and Bill found himself up the ramp and through the gate before he thought about it, and then between the oh and shit in his mind he was in a new room, a new set of people ushering him to the left as more and more people stumbled in behind him. 

He was being pushed and pressed and prodded with the rest of the crowd and he didn’t care because he was distracted by the sweeping room he was in, all smooth walls and calming blue lights. He could see a set of stairs leading up to a different landing, more soldiers in different uniforms standing there, guns held but not pointing but looking stressed. He felt more and more people press in around him as more came through the gate room, and more of the soldiers in the gray uniforms came into the room, barking orders and trying to organize the panicking crowd. 

Suddenly, a few people backed into the gate room, guns firing, and with a barked command to shut it down silence reigned as the gate winked out. By luck, or a curse depending on how things went, Bill and Neil had ended up near the front of the crowd, shifted and moved and folded until they were standing near the last of the group through. He recognized it as the SG-1 team and a couple others he didn’t know. All of them holding guns and looks of fury on their faces. Bill thought it was especially worrying on Dr. Jackson’s face. He was an archeologist and suddenly Bill wondered if Indiana Jones was more realistic than most thought. 

“Sir?” a questioning voice came from the stairs and almost as one the crowd turned and looked at the stocky man standing on the steps.

“Colonel Lorne, good to see you,” O’Neill said more cheerily than he should be. “Thanks for the help.”

“Sir?” the man said again, looking around the room. “What happened?” he asked taking a few steps down. 

“Ba’al.”

The word meant nothing to him, and to most of the people around him, but he could see a lot of people wearing uniforms stiffen.

“I thought…?” the Colonel said.

“So did I, but apparently there’s one more sneaky fucker who got onto my base, and took out my Alpha and Beta sites and I am a little pissed off,” O’Neill said, his tone hard and his face harder.

Bill shivered a little at the rage in the man’s voice and wished he could make himself more invisible. Wished he had never signed that stupid NDA, which was a lie but it was making him feel better.

“And these people?” Lorne said looking around, a look of recognition followed by resignation when his eyes passed over Bill and Neil.

“Part of the declassification process Colonel, where is the good Doctor?”

“Off world, along with the rest of AR-1. They were getting antsy, so we sent them on a milk run.”

“Oh good, so we can get the SGC back and off base before they get back?” O’Neill said looking hopeful, the face falling when Lorne winced.

“They’re due back any moment,” Lorne said, his shoulders thrown back like he was expecting a fight. 

“Where the hell are we?” a voice suddenly demanded, the crowd parting to let through Tunney and Bill was glad that he was on the other side of the crowd. “What fucking planet are we on? Why are there humans here? Why can we breathe? What is this place? What the fuck?”

Really, Bill didn’t like Tunney not after the almost freezing him to death, but the other man had a point.

“Oh right, welcome to Atlantis,” O’Neill said spreading his arms wide. “Yes, that Atlantis, and yes it was a lost city, yes we found it. In the Pegasus Galaxy, which is where we are. We established a base almost eight years ago, and we can breathe because there’s oxygen here.”

Bills mind blank at Pegasus Galaxy and he wasn’t the only one as gasps and words of shock filled the room. 

“Might have wanted to ease them into it sir,” Lorne said with a grimace, looking around the crowd as if one of them was about to break down. 

“It’s been a rude wake up call, I just think it’s better to keep them coming,” O’Neill said unapologetically. 

“Off world Activation!” a voice called out and suddenly there was more shuffling as they were pushed further away from the wormhole’s event horizon. Bill remembered that little power-point presentation. ‘Safety and Security in the Gate Room. All individuals must stand behind the marked line on the floor otherwise they run the risk of being dematerialized.’ Followed by a little short video of a square of lead being dematerialized in front of his eyes and he wanted to know how. Where did the matter go? Was it actually eaten by the wormhole for power? Or was it broken down into small particles until they weren’t able to be seen. _How?_

“Atlantis, medical team to the gate room, we’re under attack, multiple injuries, shield up when we’re through.”

Shot rang out in the gate room and Bill wasn’t the only one who ducked when a large spear came through the worm hole and hit the stairs with enough force to clang around the room. Bill watched as a large man with dreadlocks and arrows in his shoulder and back help a tall lean man with arrow’s in his thigh through the gate room, followed by two more people, walking backwards, both of them with guns up and shooting back through the worm hole. One of them was a shorter beautiful _holy shit so beautiful_ woman also with an arrow in her shoulder and the other was…

Bill’s mind blanked, not really computing what he was seeing as a _force field_ was thrown up around the stargate a second before the wormhole closed out. Silence followed for a blessed few seconds before the clattering of gurneys filled the room, medical personnel helping the man with the arrow in his leg onto it before he was whisked away with a lot of arguments, the man with the dreadlocks following. 

“Atlantis, it has now been 0 days since Dr. McKay has been shot with an arrow, anyone who had around 67 days without being shot as their bet, please see Dr. Zelenka at some point.

“Fuck you Chuck,” Rodney called out and his mind was still blanking as he took in sight of Rodney fucking McKay standing there, dressed like a solider from head to toe, holding a fucking gun like he actually knew what he was doing, an arrow sticking out of his shoulder and trading insults with the disembodied voice. “I know where you live and I won’t hesitate to throw you over a balcony.”

“What the hell happened Doc?” Lorne came forward. “Was supposed to be a milk run.”

“Oh it was supposed to be a milk run, except there’s a new fucking priest in town and he is a psychopath who thought that since we allowed Teyla to speak for us it meant we were wraith worshippers since we listened to a _Queen_ ” —and holy shit Bill could hear the italics — “that we were not to be trusted and when we asked to leave peacefully they _decided_ that we should not be allowed to spread our vile woman listening ways to the galaxy and tried to kill us. We got away and then they broke out the bows and arrows and really, did I need another hole in my body? I was born with fully functioning ones, I didn’t need any more thanks but no thanks.”

It was at this point, someone made a noise and that finally got Rodney’s attention and Bill found himself suddenly sympathetic to every prey animal as he went absolutely still as Rodney turned shocked, and brought his gun up to point at the crowd in one fluid motion. It was a practiced move, one that spoke of countless hours and _what the fuck_ was Rodney fucking McKay doing in a situation where he used a gun enough that he knew how to use it. Bill flashed back to the Tunney conference and things clicked into place. Classified work, space-matter-time-bridge and no one had seen his work in decades and Bill suddenly wished he was deaf because he didn’t want to hear the gloating that was sure to come.

“What the…,” Rodney started, as his eyes swept over the room, pausing on Bill and Neill for a second of confusion, before finding Tunney and suddenly he stood up, the gun dropping down, his hands still resting on it like the soldiers in the room were with casual confidence and _what the fuck_.

Silent followed for a few heart stopping moments.

“Nope.”

Rodney turned after that loud pronouncement. “Chuck, I take it back, I love you, dial New Athos I’m taking a Sabbatical effective immediately.”

“McKay,” the General’s voice sounded in the room. 

“Nope, Jack,” Rodney said holding up a finger towards the General to silence him. “This is a hard pass for me. I don’t know why you’re here, I don’t care, I don’t want to deal with it. Sam and I had a deal. I don’t deal with the declassification and when you make me go back to Earth and talk I won’t make anyone cry on purpose.”

“We were attacked,” O’Neill tried again.

“No shit, I thought you were all here for Teyla’s Tuttleroot soup and so Ronon could teach the fine art of knife hair braiding,” Rodney shot back. “Chuck, start dialing or I will make you our representative for the next Harvest Festival on Harmony’s planet, with my personal request for Harmony to make you welcome.”

The rings started dialing almost immediately. 

“Shut it down Sergeant, that’s an order,” O’Neill yelled back, which only served to make Rodney stand up straighter and glare as the gate stopped dialing. 

“Are you taking control of Atlantis base then?” Rodney asked.

“You know damn well I’m not.”

“Then you don’t get to give the orders, this is a civilian run expedition and as the Civilian in charge of Atlantis you don’t get to boss my people around.”

“Sort of true there McKay,” O’Neill said. “See, with the General on his way to the infirmary that puts Colonel Lorne in charge and I am his boss, and he is Campbell’s boss and you know you can’t interfere in military matters.”

“If this was a military matter I wouldn’t, but it’s just me taking a sabbatical so it’s not military at all.”

“And besides Rodney, don’t you want to get the arrow removed?” Dr. Jackson asked with a grin on his face.

Rodney sneered at Dr. Jackson and reached out and Bill wasn’t the only person who made a gagging sound when Rodney pulled it out. “It’s a scratch, got my shirt mostly,” he said before tossing it towards Dr. Jackson. “Here you go Danny, one Pegasus Arrow for your collection of barbaric bullshit.”

“Rodney,” the woman said suddenly, coming and standing up next to him with a hand between his shoulder blades. And holy shit her voice was beautiful as well and what was she doing touching Rodney like they were friends. “Perhaps we should listen to General O’Neill after we go to the infirmary to check on our friends?”

Rodney looked like he wanted to argue, but the woman spoke to him quietly and he settled back with a huff.

“Lorne, get Dr. Zelenka and one of the free Doctors. I want all of them checked for the gene, checked to make sure no one’s carrying anything and then get them into the south conference hall until we figure this out. Talk to the mess hall and have them make up some food, I don’t want anyone wandering around and getting lost. The last thing I need is to deal with the IOA over one of their damned declassification dumbasses dying.” 

Bill was still working under the prey theory and trying to stay still, but Tunney was clearly not operating under the same theories he was and really it was a wonder he wasn’t invited to anything anymore. 

“Rodney, what the fuck? Why are you holding an AK47?”

Bill also thought it was really stupid to ask the man holding said gun, who had just pulled an arrow out of his shoulder. Which was another thing, Rodney had a fucking arrow in his shoulder and was acting like some sort of shitty scifi tv show hero as if the arrow _didn’t even hurt him_. Even if it was a scratch, it was a _fucking arrow_.

Rodney turned without saying anything and had the gun up and leveled at Tunney in an instant. The whole room fell silent.

“This, is a P90, and I am holding it because off world is dangerous and I’ve made it eight fucking years in this galaxy by carrying one so I’m not feeling particularly inclined to stop. It’s also really good for shutting up stupidity, case in point.”

“Rodney,” the woman admonished, one hand coming to press the muzzle down with a disappointed sigh. “The safety is on,” she said to Tunney who had gone white with shock.

“He didn’t know that,” Rodney said not fighting it, but he did smirk, the corner of his mouth curling up in a dangerous way that made Bill feel like prey all over again. He was surprised he wasn’t trying to bury his head in the sand. “And besides, he’s the one who almost killed me and Jennifer a few years back by stealing my fucking work.”

This time the woman turned and looked at Tunney with such a profound look of disappointment _Bill_ wanted to confess to things he hadn’t even done. Who was the fuck was this woman and why was Rodney smiling at her like that, all friendly and warm and conspiring.

“I hope that this time Mr. Tunney does not disappoint us all again by choosing to misrepresent himself in front of his peers,” the woman said, before turning and walking away. “Let us go Rodney, Evan and Radek are more than capable of taking care of the SGC until we are cleared. I am sure you are most worried for John and Ronon as well.”

Rodney glanced towards Tunney and then towards Lorne and some fluffy haired scientist who Bill thought looked vaguely familiar. With a nod, he turned and followed the woman, talking in a low voice Bill wanted to hear but was also afraid to hear at the same time. 

Rodney was out of the room and the silent lifted, people muttering and Bill finally allowed himself to turn to look at Neil who was also looking a little bit whiter than normal. 

“What,” he managed to get out in a gasp as he felt like he could take his first breathe since the whole thing had started. “The fuck.”

“He pointed a gun at me!” Tunney suddenly yelled. “He threatened me! I want him arrested!”

O’Neill snorted, speaking up again. “We’re in another fucking galaxy, McKay was Chief Scientist on this city for six years before we shanghaied him into running the city. Trust me, if he threatened you, you would know it, isn’t that right Lorne?” 

“We still haven’t found Dr. Smith’s body sir, it’s been three years now,” Lorne replied with a straight face and Bill wanted to believe the twinkle in the man’s eye was a joke, but Rodney fucking McKay had held a gun in steady hands and pointed it at Tunney. And Bill had watched the man shoot bullets back into a worm hole. Despite the receding hairline, Rodney had looked like every one of those hard ass space marines he had seen in movies and read about in books and his world had both expanded and collapsed in the same day. 

“I need to sit down,” he said suddenly and did exactly that, his ass finding ground before he knew what it was doing. 

—

Bill was a little fuzzy on the details after that, but when he came too he was in another room, at another table with Neil and a couple others (Tunney far away this time thankfully) and he was glad to find that he wasn’t the only one who had needed to sit down. The room was deathly quiet, barely even a rustle as people took stock of what had happened. Twenty four hours ago he was on a bus going into NORAD and that was interesting enough as it was, but now he was on another planet in another galaxy because some people had attacked NORAD and Rodney fucking McKay was some sort of space pirate captain solider marine scientist thing. 

“McKay,” Neil said next to him, with the same disbelieving tone in his voice and really all Bill could do was nod as he cradled his not-coffee closer to him. It was some plant thing they had been told tasted like peaches but had the same caffeine content as coffee did. It was weird, like a peach pie, but was giving him the same clarity as coffee did so it wasn’t the worst. 

“McKay,” Neil repeated.

“McKay,” he replied with a nod, not sure what else there was to say. 

“McKay!”

“McKay.”

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, The General will be here shortly to welcome you properly to the city while we figure out what is happening. Don’t worry, you shouldn’t be here more than a day or two before we can get you back to Earth,” Colonel Lorne said, a smile on his face that made Bill instantly want to trust him, and he wasn’t the only one of the sudden relaxing in the air was any indication. 

“O’Neill or Carter?” someone asked. 

“Oh, they’re in a meeting to discuss taking back the Mountain,” Lorne continued cheerfully. “The General is the military commander of Atlantis.”

Bill could hear the capitalization on the title and he wondered why he was The General and everyone else was General O’Neill and General Carter. He didn’t understand military at all. 

“McKay,” Neil repeated again, a tone of confusion and wonder. Bill wondered if he had broken slightly. 

“You okay?” he asked looking at his old friend who was staring into his cup as if it held the worlds secrets. 

“He...we…here…it…what?” Neil got out, not making sense but Bill understood and he clapped his friend on the shoulder again.

“It’ll be fine, I’m sure,” he said trying for forced levity and ignored how his voice broke. 

The doors to the room swished open and the lean man who had had two arrows in his leg from before walked into the room. Bill saw his face for the first time and was not surprised to see that he was also unfairly attractive. He was followed by the beautiful lady and the man with the dreadlocks who was also attractive. Seriously, they had to be actors or something. This had to be the world’s biggest prank for some reason, no group of people should have this many attractive people in it. It wasn’t the way the world worked. He could almost believe if it Rodney fucking McKay didn’t walk in behind them, one hand holding a cup of steaming liquid and the other reading over a tablet in his hand, not watching where he was going, and yet managing to come to a stop next to the other three at the front of the room. 

“Howdy folks,” the tall lean man with the shock of black hair that was sticking up all over the place started. He was smiling, sort of, smirking really, at everyone, hazel eyes taking into the room as he pushed his hands into his pockets and rocked on his heels. “I’m Brigadier General John Sheppard and I’m the military commander of Atlantis. I realize most of you are probably a little shell shocked right now and we’re getting rooms ready for you, so you can get some sleep. We also have food on the way, so no worries about lowered blood sugar. Our two resident Doctors will be by shortly and if you have any medical conditions you need addressed please let them know, if you need something urgently then let us know so we can make sure you’re fine.” 

General Sheppard, and was this The General that Colonel Lorne had been talking about before, had an air of casual confidence around him that reminded Bill of General O’Neill and he felt himself relaxing a little bit more. 

“I know you guys are sure to have a lot of questions so let me just introduce my team and then we’ll let you know how tomorrow is going to go yeah?” Sheppard continued, a wide smile at everyone. 

“Didn’t you get shot? How are you walking?” someone blurted out and really Bill realized he was wondering the same thing.

“I got better,” Sheppard said straight faced, causing Rodney to snort but not look up. Sheppard shot him an easy grin before looking back. “We have some great technology here and I got lucky, it was all in the meat of the leg, painful sure but not life threatening.”

Sheppard waited a moment before indicating to Rodney who still didn’t look up. “This is Dr. Rodney McKay, he’s in charge of Atlantis, the Governor if you will. From my understanding some of you know him already, and haven’t run screaming for the balcony yet so kudos to you.”

“Fuck you General,” Rodney said without heat, not looking up still, even as he took a sip of his coffee. “I’m a god damn delight.”

Sheppard just grinned and waved a hand towards the giant man with dreadlocks. “This is Specialist Ronon Dex of Sateda, that is a planet in Pegasus galaxy and he is one of our military contractors right now,” he said before indicating the beautiful woman, “And this is Teyla Emmagan of Athos who is our diplomatic liaison with the Pegasus galaxy and one of our civilian contractors.”

Alien, Bill’s mind supplied. Two more _Aliens_ but he was on a different planet did that make him an Alien?

“Why are they human?” someone else blurted out.

“Because the Ancients were slutty slutty dicks who liked to make everyone in the likeness of themselves and populated thousands of planets for fun,” Rodney answered finally looking up and around the room. 

“Ancients?” someone else asked. 

“Gate builders, they built them and the network, they also built this city about ten thousand years ago, and a whole lot of other stuff that I would gladly shoot them in the face for,” Rodney answered. 

“But why do they look human?” the original questioner asked. “If its ten thousand years there should be genetic drift, there should be changes to distinguish them from us. There should be evolutionary changes for adaption and survival for their planets?”

All good questions Bill thought. 

Rodney grimaced. “Let me guess, paleoanthropologist?”

“Yes.”

“Well, good thing for you we’ve got one of those somewhere right now,” Rodney replied. “Alright people, this is how this is going to work. We’re going to put you in lovely rooms to sleep, it’s almost 10pm for us here and gatelag is a giant bitch so try and sleep. In the morning we’re going to bring you back here, feed you breakfast and then break you up into smaller groups to inflict on my scientists so you can ask questions to your hearts delight. Try and challenge them please, they need to be prepared for the dumbasses on Earth who will try and trip them up. Hopefully by tomorrow evening we’ll have the SGC back under SGC control and I can send you back before one of you dies by touching something you shouldn’t, and no I am not being dramatic.”

“Rodney,” Sheppard drawled, the tone of long suffering amusement .“Be nice.”

Rodney rolled his eyes. “Fine, you will all be shown to your villas and treated like kings and everything will be sunshine and roses and no worries at all about the flashing lights, space vampires and exploding tumors.”

“Rodney,” Sheppard said again, tone unchanged but Rodney rolled his eyes again and sighed.

“Fine fine fine, Jesus Christ Sheppard you shit,” Rodney said looking out over the crowd. “It’ll be fine, you’ll be out of my hair tomorrow night, back on Earth and if you ask nicely they’ll give you some nice drugs that’ll make this all seem like a fever dream if you’re so inclined.”

“Shouldn’t let them in your hair, don’t have a lot left,” the big man, Ronon Dex, rumbled. 

Rodney let out an affronted noise and glared up at the mountain of the man who just grinned at him. Where the fuck did Rodney fucking McKay manage to find three attractive people who wanted to be around him. Four, if he remembered that Doctor who had come to the Tunney fiasco with him. “I hope you lose your favorite knife,” Rodney muttered, looking down at his tablet once more before up and over the room.

“Look people, we’ve got almost a decade’s worth of information, there’s no way we can dump it all on you, so tomorrow you’ll get the basics, which the SGC should be thanking us for doing their job really. And seriously, how hard is it not to let yourself be taken over? We’ve had one foothold situation here and Sheppard managed to deal with it himself and they’ve got the entire fucking planet and they can’t hold one mountain?”

“Alrighty folks, I think Lorne is ready, so when he calls your name get up and follow him and he’ll send you to your rooms with a marine who will explain how the rooms work. Unfortunately you will have to double up, but every room has a balcony with a view so there’s some perks,” Sheppard interrupted. 

Bill was surprised to see Rodney didn’t argue, just looked back down at this tablet and tapped something on the screen with the hand that was still holding the coffee and tilted it towards Sheppard who read it. Bill heard Lorne start to call out names and people got up in groups of two, making their way to the front of the room. It was orderly and efficient and before he knew it the room was almost empty, leaving only seven people in the room, including him and Neil.

“Alright, you seven,” Rodney said, voice almost booming in the sudden echoing space. “You’re all special fucking snowflakes so come here.”

“You are a beacon of comfort Doc,” Lorne said with a grin as he came and stood with the other four.

Rodney snorted and threw back the rest of his drink with a shrug. “I am a firm believer of letting kids cry it out so why would I be any different with adults?”

Bill shot a glance at Neil who also managed to look confused but they joined the group around Rodney and the rest of them. He watched as Rodney looked between him and Neil with a look of irritation and really all of this was so not his fault and he opened his mouth to say that but before he even started Rodney started talking.

“You all have a gene in you we call the ATA which allows you to directly interface with the city and control certain things. This is dangerous because you don’t know what you’re doing, so The General here is going to give a couple examples. He’s the strongest gene carrier we have so listen to him.”

Bill’s mind blanked out past ‘directly interface with the city’ and it took a few seconds before it came back online and he knew he was gaping at Rodney, and was the smug look really necessary. “Interface?” he managed to get out, proud that his voice did not crack. 

“Yep,” The General replied, and even Bill was calling him that, was there something in the air that caused military protocol to take over?

“What does that mean…exactly?” he found himself asking, scientific curiosity taking over. 

The General handed over a small flat disk and Bill took it, looking down at it, wondering what it was. “Think on,” The General said and Bill found himself thinking on without thinking about it.

The disk came to life, expanding in his hand a holographic representation of stars that he didn’t recognize floating above it. It was a fucking hologram holy shit. 

“The first time I was asked to activate something, Rodney asked me to show him where we were in the universe, and I did. I want you to think about home, Earth and the Milky Way specifically,” The General said, his voice calming and smooth, an air of confidence that Bill found himself relaxing with.

He concentrated, thinking of the Milky Way and how she was built and watched in awe as lights shifted around until the galaxy was in front of him, slowly revolving planets that looked more nuanced than anything he had seen before. 

“Oh look, Pluto,” Rodney said and Bill looked up to see him shooting a glance at Neil who didn’t even bother to reply, instead just staring at the holograph like it was the holy grail. 

“Have you seen them?” he asked softly, looking at Rodney feeling suddenly jealous all of a sudden. Jealous for a life that seemed so much richer than his own in comparison. He remembered Rodney a few years back, everyone assuming he was washed up, that he had gone nowhere and instead Rodney had gone everywhere, and then some more. A whole new galaxy, he had literally fallen of off the face of the planet, and found himself on a new one. 

Rodney looked at him for a second before he nodded his head. “In passing yes, but I know the SGC has done some research into them, I’m sure it’s in some files somewhere.”

“How many planets…?” he asked, not sure where to go with it. Have you been too, have people on them, are there.

Rodney shrugged. “We’ve visited hundreds all together, and there’s thousands more, between both galaxies. It’ll take a hundred lifetimes to search everything, and those are the ones we can reach by the gate. There are more, without gates, and we know there are other galaxies that support life but we haven’t been there yet.”

Bill felt small all of a sudden. He always knew he had been a cog in the machine, but now he felt like a speck of dust that could be brushed away at any second, insignificant in the face of everything else. He looked down at the device in his hand, softly warm and glowing, a brush against the back of his mind just as warm. 

“Think off,” The General said, his voice soft.

Bill did as asked and the device shut down until it was the same smooth gray object from before, the warmth replaced by a cool sensation he associated with glasses of cold water on a hot day. “How does it work?” he asked, turning the small object over in his hand.

Rodney reached out and plucked it, pulling a multitool from his pocket and flicking between a few different heads before with a few quick flicks opened up the small device, easily splitting it in two to reveal a couple wires and a few crystal looking things…and nothing else. Bill frowned and looked up at Rodney, sure he was going to see a smug look, but instead it was just patient, and that was odder than everything else he had seen.

“How?” he asked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing and what had happened.

Rodney reached out and tapped Bill’s forehead with his pointer finger. “Mental interface, these crystals and the wire essentially read your mind and determine what you want to see.”

Bill opened his mouth and then closed it. “It reads my mind?” he asked after a second, feeling so out of his depth it wasn’t funny.

“Only because you were touching it, electrical signals,” Rodney explained, putting the small device back together. “Very few people can interface without touching the device in question. The General, General O’Neill and me.”

“You have the gene as well? Is it common?”

“Artificial,” Rodney said with a shrug. “I had the recessive gene, and with some gene therapy it was activated. And I’m really stubborn and worked hard to get the control I have. It’s not common at all, honestly the fact that there are seven of you is a surprise.”

The General nodded his head. “You guys are getting rooms as well don’t worry, but you will have a marine stationed outside of your door. Atlantis isn’t safe, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing and with the gene you run the risk of ending up somewhere you don’t want to go. You’re not in trouble the marines are there for your safety and nothing more. If you want to get food they’ll let you, if you want to move around tomorrow, they’ll let you. You’re not prisoners, but you will be restricted, the same as everyone else.”

Rodney nodded his head, eyes darting between each of the group. “Look, you’re not supposed to be here, and we’ll have the SGC back in no time, so you won’t be here long. So make the most of it as you can because it’ll be a while before you’re allowed back.”

That seemed to be the end of it as marines came into the room, smiles and easy going nature at odds with the guns and tense postures as they were led to their rooms. Bill glanced back before the door was closed, in time to see The General kissing Rodney quickly, with the air of familiarity that only a relationship could bring. Honestly, after the day he had had, he wasn’t surprised. 

—

The next day was as go go go as everything else had been. He had woken up, showered (it got his temperature from his mind), gone to the mess hall in a transporter (oh my god a transporter) before he was shuffled into the engineering group and shown a few basics by the fluffy haired scientist from the day before, named Zelenka and he was apparently the Chief Scientist, and had a tendency to mutter in Czech under his breath. 

Bill’s mind was whirling, and he wondered if Neil (who had been adopted by the astrophysicists with a lot of enthusiasm) was feeling as overwhelmed as he was. It was so much and not enough, he felt greedy with knowledge, like he wanted to just throw himself into the pool of knowledge without a lifejacket and he wasn’t even allowed to dip his toes into it. 

He was peripherally aware of Things Happening, people moving in and out as well as another showing of Rodney fucking McKay the Space Marine coming in to yell at Zelenka about something jumping before leaving in a huff, a gun strapped to his thigh and Kevlar vest somehow managing to make Rodney look like he was in shape instead of middle aged. 

The day wore on, and somehow, he found himself sitting in the gate room, tucked away from anyone or anything important and just staring at the gate, wide eyed and overwhelmed. He wondered if he was about to have his second panic attack since getting into the city. He wanted to see the gate again, wanted to see the power as whatever made it happen build up until it exploded into a wave of blue energy that allowed people to travel like never before. 

He felt a presence next to him and he turned, watching as Rodney slid down the wall next to him, legs out stretched, still dressed as if he were about to invade a space ship, gun resting on his hip. It was still odd, and it would never stop being odd, to see this confident, quieter Rodney that was more in line with the marines patrolling the room than the loud mouthed brash scientist he had spent two years working with on his show. 

“You okay?” Rodney asked after a couple more seconds of silence and Bill shrugged.

“Okay is relative,” he muttered, waving a hand around the room. “This all feels like a dream.”

Rodney chuckled. “There are mornings I wake up and I feel like I’m dreaming, like holy shit this cannot be my life, but it is and it’s amazing.”

Bill nodded his head and then jerked his chin towards the gate. “You didn’t go with? Or have they not left?”

Rodney shook his head. “They’ve gone. The General and O’Neill took a platoon an hour ago.”

“Then why the get up?”

Rodney sighed and shrugged. “My team is out there, and because I’m in charge of Atlantis I’m no longer allowed to go on strike missions, and it pisses me off something major. I want to be ready in case they need back up, because there will be nothing that stops me from getting my people back.”

Bill didn’t know what to say to that. Strike missions. He had seen Rodney firing the gun before, the easy confidence and the way his hands handled it, but the phrase strike mission changed how he saw Rodney again. This was a man who, no doubt, had killed someone before. Maybe in self-defense, maybe in a battle, Bill didn’t know but this was a marine without rank, someone who had stood shoulder to shoulder with soldiers and stood his ground and he didn’t understand.

“Why is he called The General?” he asked, not sure why that was the first thing that came to mind but it just stuck with him. 

“John is…,” Rodney started only to stop and shrug. “He’s been in Military Command of Atlantis since the day we stepped through the gate, through thick and thin. He was The Major, then The Colonel, then the Colonel and now he’s The General. I don’t know why, the military started it and we all just…adopted it really. He’s The General and I’m the Doc.”

“Like Doc Brown.”

Rodney groaned. “Don’t ever repeat that.”

Bill chuckled, remembering how much Rodney had hated that movie. He sobered a second later and looked back towards the gate. 

“How?” he asked. “How can you…handle all of this?”

“Well I didn’t learn about it all at once which helped,” Rodney said with a quirk of his lips, his head tilting back to rest against the wall. “I have good friends, a good team, and good people and that helps me a lot.”

“Good boyfriend as well,” he couldn’t help but comment. The bisexuality wasn’t a surprise, Bill had known the man for years after all, but the fact someone had settled down with Rodney, especially a solider, surprised him. 

“Husband,” Rodney said with a smile. “Two years.”

“How long have you’ve been together.”

“Two years,” Rodney said with a grin. 

Bill frowned at that, raising an eyebrow at Rodney in question.

Rodney glanced at him and shifted. “We were on earth when DADT was repealed, just by pure chance honestly. The General came over after it was announced, handed me a beer and asked me if I wanted to go to Vegas to celebrate. So we went to Vegas and he rented this fucking cherry red mustang, something out of an 80’s car movie and drove us to a chapel and looked at me, raised an eyebrow and I said yes.”

“That sounds…” Bill trailed off, not really sure how to comment on that. It sounded like something out of a romance movie. 

“He’s been my best friend for eight years, he’s always had my back and I’ll always have his. I’d dated a couple other people, but it never worked out and it just worked with him. He also hates talking about anything even tangentially related to an emotion and it was his way of telling me he felt the same. Easiest yes I ever said,” Rodney said with a grin. “We got married by a short dude dressed like a Roswell gray and our first kiss was that night.”

Bill snorted. “I’m sort of disappointed there’s no gray aliens.”

“They died out, mass suicide a couple of years back. You would have liked them, no sense of humor and hated clothing,” Rodney said. 

Bill blinked, looking at Rodney not sure if he was joking, and the half smile and side long glance didn’t help him at all. “Wha—”

“—That’s not a lie,” Rodney said, grinning outright now. “The Roswell gray’s? Real aliens that crash landed, but they fixed their ship and left before anything major could happen. 1950’s Earth technology had nothing on what they had.”

Bill slumped down, dropping his head back and not even moving when it thudded painfully. He felt a warmth at his back for a second, a soothing whisper in his mind and it wasn’t the first time that had happened and he knew it was the city, but knowing and understanding were two completely separate ideas. 

“Why am I here?” he asked after a second.

“Existentially or like physically here?” Rodney asked. “I can only help with one of those.”

“Why me? Everyone else has at least a masters or PhD and do a lot more actual science than I do. Why did the SGC want me here?”

Rodney was silent for a second. “I suggested it,” he said finally.

“What?”

“Look. We’re about to destroy lives, years and years of people’s research, in so many different fields of study. We’re about to blow open minds and we’re going to have to rewrite so many textbooks it’s a good thing we have a couple hundred planets because we’re about to destroy forests to print these books. People are going to have to learn whole new things, and you have always had a way of breaking down complicated processes into simple terms. I can do it, to a point, but my ability to break it down stops at about upper grad level, you can put it into concepts children can understand we need that. I suggested you because it’s not just adults we’re going to have to deal with, it’s going to be college kids, teenagers in school, and curious children who now have a universe to look forward too.”

Bill was silent, feeling oddly touched and suddenly like he was going to puke. ”There’s got to be others?”

Rodney sighed. “Atlantis is a colony you know, or it’s in the process of becoming one, I am really the Governor, or I will be when it makes the final switch in a few months. The first Earth colony.”

Rodney was the Governor of the first Earth colony and Bill wouldn’t wish that on anyone in the world. “Okay,” he said wondering where this was going.

“We have kids here,” Rodney said. “From all around the galaxy, if our allies want to send their kids here to learn we let them, give them the basics in physics, basic chemistry, math, and other things that are universal. We show the kids your show, the concepts are usually the same, it’s made for people who don’t really have a lot of science background and its interesting.”

Bill’s mouth dropped open as he looked over at Rodney, who was grinning without a trace of the ego Bill still expected to see. He closed his mouth and opened it again, trying to find something to say.

Rodney shrugged his shoulders. “You’re here, because you get to be the new face of the SGC,” he said with a grin, clapping Bill on the shoulder, hard. 

“Ow,” he said, for lack of anything else to say. 

Rodney shifted and stood up. “C’mon, wanna go into space?”

“What?”

“Space, want to go?”

“We can?”

“Easily, the puddlejumpers are Ancient technology, I’ll get us up there and you can fly for a bit.”

“Oh my god.”

—

By the time they made it back down to Atlantis Bill was pretty sure he could die happy now, space. He had been in space. He had been in real life space. Space!

“Holy shit space,” he said once Rodney had landed the puddlejumper again and led him out. Bill swore he could almost feel the ship saying _goodbye_ to him and he turned back with a bit of a frown. “Did it…”

“Yeah,” Rodney said hitting some button to raise the hatch back up as he prodded Bill back to where they had come. Bill went easily, following Rodney into the transporter (transporter!!!!!!) and was about to step out at the other side, only to stop when he spotted The General, looking….well looking normal. He looked like he had earlier, as if he hadn’t even left the city, he didn’t even look like he had done anything except wake up.

“All good?” Rodney asked.

“Mmhmm,” The General replied shrugging his shoulders. “Those stun sticks we got off Todd are seriously amazing. O’Neill wants to use them instead of flashbangs from now on.”

“He knows they stun everyone but the person holding them, right?”

The General shrugged again. “He’ll figure it out.”

Rodney snorted and then jerked his chin towards Bill. “Do I need to introduce you? Again?”

The General rolled his eyes and held out his hand. “I’ve seen an episode or two with Torren.”

“Your kid?” Bill found himself asking, shaking his hand and looking between the two of them. 

Rodney grimaced and The General shook his head. “Nah, God kid, we get stuck baby-sitting when Teyla wants a break. So…how do you know McKay?”

“He worked on my show for a couple years,” Bill replied over the groan. “While he was working on his second PhD.”

“I like to forget that time of my life.”

“He was the Way Cool Scientist when we talked about the moon.” 

“Really?” The General asked with a grin towards Rodney. “I don’t think I’ve seen that episode.”

“Sadly, it was lost in data transit. Also, not a good episode since its Earth based and doesn’t mean a damn thing in Pegasus.”

The General just grinned even wider. “I’m asking Sam.”

“No you are not.”

“She’ll get it, we can make a day of it. Help explain to the kids what Earth’s moon is like. Especially since we’ve got five of our own.”

Rodney shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest with a stubbornness Bill was all too familiar with. “I want a divorce.”

For a second Bill was worried, but The General just smiled and shook his head. “No can do buddy.”

Rodney rolled his eyes, for all the world looking put out but Bill could also see a measure of affection there. “You’re an asshole.”

“Yep.”

Bill snorted at that, at the happy grin on The Generals face, looking more like a child than anything else. “I think I’m going to go and find Neil, make sure he hasn’t passed out from excitement,” he said holding a hand out to Rodney to shake. 

Rodney chuckled and shook his hand. “He’s got our CMO worried about his blood pressure, it keeps spiking.”

He shook The General’s hand again before pushing his hands into his pockets. “Can you blame him?”

Rodney looked around the room they were in. “Not in the slightest.”

—

The next morning, the group was all rounded up, everyone checked to make sure they didn’t have anything squirreled away, which judging by the efficiency and completeness of the checks was something that happened often. Bill kept his head back, looking around at the city and finding himself sad that he was leaving, and he wasn’t the only one. He could see the same forlorn expression on a lot of people, Neil looked like he was about to cry, and a part of Bill didn’t blame him. 

He felt a shoulder jostle his and he turned to see Rodney standing there, now dressed in a pair of tan cargo pants and a zip up jacket, looking more like the Rodney he knew. It was hard to reconcile the man with the gun and the man who he had argued over science with for hours at a time years ago. 

“You’ll be back,” Rodney said, following his gaze around the room. 

“Oh?”

“Yeah, you’ve got a show to film and parts of it will be in Atlantis.”

Bill felt a fission of nervousness in him again, feeling like he had the weight of the whole program on his shoulders. He barely knew a percentage of what was happening, and they wanted him to be able to explain it? 

“Don’t worry,” Rodney continued, clapping him on the shoulder. “They’re not dumping it all at once, they’re not that stupid. They’re going to release it in order, so it makes sense. You’ll have time to get ahead as well.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better you know,” he said dryly. 

Rodney shrugged. “I’m not really known for my bedside manner.”

Bill snorted. “And they want you to be the Governor?”

“I’m great at delegating.”

Bill remembered Rodney yelling at varying assistants on the show, conducting them easily, each piece always where it needed to be, and he inclined his head in agreement. Rodney had many faults, but he always ran a tight ship.

“You’re lucky, this city is beautiful,” he said after a couple moments of silence.

Rodney smiled, and it was sad. “It really is. Beautiful and deadly and all mine.”

“All yours?”

Rodney leaned in. “Atlantis is semi-sentient, you really think She would let us stay here if She didn’t want us?” Rodney asked softly, keeping his voice down as he raised an eyebrow.

“I think that sounds terrifying.”

Rodney opened his mouth respond only to stop at a loud crash from across the room and he straightened up, eyes focusing in on something. “For fucks sake Lopez, get your shit together and don’t drop the drones. The last thing we need is another explosion in the gate room.”

As far as reprimands went, it didn’t even ping on the McKay radar. Bill looked at his old sometimes friend and grinned. “Marriage is good for you, you’ve chilled out.”

“Don’t insult me like that,” Rodney said offended. 

Bill heard the gate begin to dial and he forwent responding and instead turned to watch it happen, still not over it. “Does it get old?” he asked as the wormhole formed.

“Nah, this bit doesn’t,” Rodney said, clapping him on the shoulder and left. 

Bill waited his turn, looking back to see the gate room once more, spotting Rodney chatting with his team. He watched for a second before it was his turn, and he turned back and between one step and the next, stepped through to Earth.


End file.
